A large crowd gathered outside Alice Springs Hospital on Thursday night, clashing with police after 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis was taken there for treatment. Lewis had been arrested over the alleged abduction and murder of a five-year-old Aboriginal girl.
The girl, whose family has asked that she be referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby, was found dead in bushland about five kilometres from the Old Timers town camp on Thursday, 30 April 2026, after a days-long search. Kumanjayi is a name used in Central Australia in place of the name of a person who has died, in line with cultural protocols.
According to ABC reporting carried by RNZ more than 100 people gathered at the hospital, with rocks, bottles and other projectiles thrown at police. An empty police vehicle parked on Gap Road was reportedly damaged with street signs and sticks before people attempted to set it alight.
Northern Territory Police armed with shields used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, according to the NT Independent.
Many in the crowd called for Lewis to face traditional punishment under Aboriginal customary law in Central Australia, known as “payback”.
Arrernte man Harley Myers, who attended the gathering, told the ABC people were hurting.
“The feeling that [the police] are protecting this guy, they are shooting us with rubber bullets… it’s like the system is not sticking up for us and letting us get our own traditional payback,” Mr Myers said.
“We’re united because it hurts all of us. It hurts one of us because she was only five years old, and it could happen to any of our kids. I don’t want that to happen to any of our kids at all.”
An older woman who spoke to the ABC at the hospital said “She was an innocent little baby, so vulnerable – yet they are protecting him.”
A woman who identified herself as a relative of Kumanjayi Little Baby said “I am angry … for what he done to my little baby cousin.”
Watch: Scene footage from outside Alice Springs Hospital on Thursday night — via Facebook.
Lewis is understood to have been bashed by residents at Charles Creek Camp before police located him on Thursday night, according to The Australian, which reported a “group of vigilantes” alerted police after allegedly inflicting the bashing. Video shared on social media reportedly showed a man on a stretcher being moved to an ambulance while bystanders shouted condemnation.
Northern Territory Police did not address the unrest in the brief statement confirming Lewis’s arrest, saying only: “A short time ago, the Northern Territory Police Force located and arrested Jefferson Lewis at a residence in Alice Springs. Further information will be provided early in the morning.”
NT Police are yet to release details about any arrests in connection with the Thursday night clashes outside the hospital.
The unrest comes against a backdrop of long-running tensions between Aboriginal residents of Central Australia and the Northern Territory’s policing and justice systems. The Australian has reported Lewis was released from prison only days before Kumanjayi Little Baby was reported missing.
The five-year-old’s family has requested community support during the grieving period.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis support is available through 13YARN on 13 92 76. Lifeline can be reached on 13 11 14.
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